23 December 2008

Ball Dropping and Package Delivery

They're dropping the ball in NYC. But it's a good thing. The ball that drops on Times Square at midnight on New Years will be powered by people. There is a 'power lodge' in place and it's attached to bicycles. People can pedal for a time and help charge the batteries that will power the ball droppingness.

230 hours of pedalling are required to generate the power needed for the 10-15 minute duration. On December 17th, there was 95 hours collected, about 35% of the total. Here's hoping more people will get out and pedal.

In other Stateside news:UPS has started enlisting the help of bicycles and trailers to deliver packages. "The company estimates that for every three bikes deployed during peak season on the West coast, it will save around 17 gallons of fuel per day and about $38,000 dollars in vehicle maintenance costs."You can read about this initative here. Thanks to Toby for the link.

Kilometres cycled by Copenhageners so far today

Copenhagenize.com is the blog of Copenhagenize Design Company. Online since 2007 and highlighting the cycling life in Copenhagen and around the world.

40 years ago Copenhagen was just as car-clogged as anywhere else but now 41% of the population arriving at work or education do so on bicycles, from all over the Metro area. 56% of Copenhageners themselves use bicycles each day. They all use over 1000 km of bicycle lanes in Greater Copenhagen for their journeys. Copenhagenizing is possible anywhere.